Archival Manuscript/Mixed Formats (Collection)A.P Schmidt Company archives, 1869-1958
Corporate name
Main title
- A.P. Schmidt Company archives, 1869-1958 (bulk 1895-1920).
Links
Links
- Finding aid http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu017004
- Finding aid (PDF) http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu017004.3
More Information
LCCN Permalink
Description
- 34,775 items (514 containers, 280 linear feet)
Rights advisory
- Certain restrictions to use or copying of materials may apply.
Access advisory
- Open to research
- Not all materials in this collection may be readily accessible; please request accessibility information well in advance of your visit http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/perform.contact
Finding aids
- Finding aid available in the Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room and at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu017004
LC classification
- ML31 .A2
Related names
- Adams, Charles R.
- Apthorp, William Foster, 1848-1913.
- Archer, Frederic, 1838-1901.
- Barbour, Florence Newell, 1866-1946.
- Barnes, Edward Shippen, 1887-1958.
- Bartlett, Floy Little.
- Bauer, Marion, 1882-1955.
- Beach, Amy, 1867-1944.
- Berwald, W. (William), 1864-1948.
- Bird, Arthur, 1856-1923.
- Bischoff, J. W. (John W.), 1850-1909.
- Blumenschein, W. L. (William Leonard), 1849-1916.
- Bohm, Carl, 1844-1920.
- Chadwick, G. W. (George Whitefield), 1854-1931.
- Foote, Arthur, 1853-1937.
- Friml, Rudolf, 1879-1972.
- Godowsky, Leopold, 1870-1938.
- Hopekirk, Helen.
- MacDowell, Edward, 1860-1908.
- Porter, F. Addison (Frank Addison), 1859-1941.
- Stewart, H. J. (Humphrey John), 1856-1932.
- Wilson, G. D. (Grenville Dean), 1833-1897.
- Wooler, Alfred, 1867-1937.
- A.P. Schmidt Collection (Library of Congress)
Biography/History note
- Arthur Paul Schmidt was born in Altona, Germany on April 1, 1846, and came to the United States in 1866. He worked for the G.D. Russell publishing house in Boston before opening his own retail and foreign music importing business in 1876. The A.P. Schmidt Company, with branches in New York and Leipzig, soon gained a reputation for publishing works of many distinguished American composers and became one of the largest music publishing and importing firms in the United States. Schmidt died on May 5, 1921, but the firm continued until it was absorbed by the Summy-Birchard Company of Evanston, Illinois in 1960.
Organized/Arranged
- Organized into the following series: I. Music, II. Business Papers.
Summary
- The Arthur P. Schmidt Company archives is a valuable source for the study of American music during the latter part of the 19th and the first quarter of the 20th century. It contains music, correspondence, business and financial records, and related documents. These materials provide a detailed look at the management, daily operations, and history of the Schmidt firm. In the music series, which contains manuscripts and some printed music and is the largest part of the collection, are examples of music composed by Americans at the turn of the twentieth century and selected for publication by Schmidt. The majority of the music in the collection is in autograph form; some are holographs in the hand of the composer and many are the work of Schmidt company editors and arrangers. It is from these manuscripts that the Schmidt company prepared its publications. The music in the collection is principally for voice, chorus or piano, with some examples of large-scale orchestral music as well. It should be noted that none of the manuscripts of Edward MacDowell, one of Schmidt's most important composers, accompanied the collection to the Library of Congress. It may be assumed that after MacDowell's death, most of his manuscripts were returned to his widow, Marian MacDowell (see the Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection).
- The collection encompasses a large number of business papers, including corporate correspondence and letterbooks, legal and financial records and files, publications records and catalogs, iconography, and various writings. The correspondence includes letters to A.P. Schmidt and his staff from composers, foreign agents, and printers, as well as copies of letters from the Schmidt organization. Among the legal and financial records are several boxes of materials dealing primarily with copyright matters. These include copyright recordation books, renewals and application records, and a number of copyright-related publications. The financial records include bound ledgerbooks, payment records, earnings statements, and other information for both the Boston and Leipzig operations. The publication records include A.P. Schmidt and related organizations' stock books and publications books. There are music catalogs and assorted advertisements as well. The iconographic materials consist, for the most part, of signed photographs that once lined Mr. Schmidt's office. The writings include literary works by some Schmidt composers.
- Among the major correspondents in the collection are Edward Ballantine, Florence Newell Barbour, Floy Bartlett, Mrs. H.H.A. Beach, Robert Braine, Gena Branscombe, F. Leslie Calver,Rosseter G. Cole, Mabel Daniels, Roland Diggle, G. A. Grant-Schaefer, Cora W. Jenkins, Boris Levenson, Marian MacDowell, John W. Metcalf, T. Tertius Noble, Mari Paldi, Anna Priscilla Risher, Thomas Tapper, and George Woodhouse. Other notable correspondents include Paul Ambrose, Willi Apel, J. Stuart Archer, Parker Bailey, Edward Shippen Barnes, Marion Bauer, Richard Key Biggs, Arthur Bird, David Bispham, Carl Bohm, Joseph Bonnet, Franz Bornschein, Felix Borowski, John Hyatt Brewer, Radie Britain, Rayner Brown, Ignaz Brüll, Annabel Morris Buchanan, Charles Wakefield Cadman, William C. Carl, Pablo Casals, George Whitefield Chadwick,Norman Coke-Jephcott, Rossetter G. Cole, Frederick S. Converse, Henry Cowell, Bainbridge Crist, Frank Damrosch, Charles F. Dennée, Robert Nathaniel Dett, David Diamond, Clarence Dickinson, Olin Downes, Marcel Dupré, Clarence Eddy, Carl Engel, Geraldine Farrar, H. T. Finck, Ross Lee Finney, Arthur Foote, Rudolf Friml, Henry S. Fry, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Rudolph Ganz, W. W. Gilchrist, Leopold Godowsky, Percy Grainger, Donald J. Grout, Alexandre Guilmant, Cornelius Gurlitt, Henry K. Hadley, Hermann Hagedorn, Philip Hale, Howard Hanson, F. Flaxington Harker, Charles Haubiel, George Henschel, Edward Burlingame Hill, John Tasker Howard, Mary Howe, Rupert Hughes, Henry Holden Huss, Philip James, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Bruno Oscar Klein, Ernest R. Kroeger, Gail Kubik, Edwin H. Lemare, Ellen Jane Lorenz, Otto Leuning, Eduardo Marzo, Daniel Gregory Mason, William H. Neidlinger, Arthur Nevin, Geoffrey O'Hara, John Knowles Paine, Horatio Parker, Daniel Pinkham, Florence B. Price, Richard Purvis, Carl Reinecke, Hugo Reinhold, Josef Rheinberger, Wallingford Riegger, Artur Schnabel, Percy A. Scholes, William Howard Schuman, Ludwig Schytte, R. Deane Shure, Ernest M. Skinner, Templeton Strong, Paolo Tosti, William Treat Upton, Edgar Varese, Clarence Cameron White, Thornton Wilder, John Wesley Work and many others.
- Some composers whose works are represented in the collection include Charles R. Adams, William F. Apthorp, Frederick Archer, Florence Newell Barbour, Edward S. Barnes, Floy L. Bartlett, Marion Bauer, Mrs. H. H. A. Beach, W. Berwald, Arthur Bird, J. W. Bischoff, W. L. Blumenschein, Carl Bohm, George Whitefield Chadwick, Arthur Foote, Rudolf Friml, Leopold Godowsky, Helen Hopekirk, Edward A. Macdowell, F. A. Porter, H. J. Stewart, G. D. Wilson, Alfred Wooler, and many others.
LC Subjects
- Schmidt, Arthur Paul.
- Schmidt, Arthur Paul--Correspondence.
- Ballantine, Edward, 1886-1971--Correspondence.
- Barbour, Florence Newell, 1866-1946--Correspondence.
- Bartlett, Floy Little--Correspondence.
- Beach, Amy, 1867-1944--Correspondence.
- Braine, Robert, 1896-1940--Correspondence.
- Branscombe, Gena--Correspondence.
- Calver, F. Leslie (Francis Leslie), 1880---Correspondence.
- Cole, Rossetter G. (Rossetter Gleason), 1866-1952--Correspondence.
- Daniels, Mabel W. (Mabel Wheeler), 1878-1971--Correspondence.
- Diggle, Roland, 1885-1954--Correspondence.
- Grant-Schaefer, G. A. (George Alfred), 1872-1939--Correspondence.
- Jenkins, Cora W.--Correspondence.
- Levenson, Boris, 1884-1947--Correspondence.
- MacDowell, Marian, 1857-1956--Correspondence.
- Metcalf, John W., 1856-1926--Correspondence.
- Noble, T. Tertius (Thomas Tertius), 1867-1953--Correspondence.
- Paldi, Mari--Correspondence.
- Risher, Anna Priscilla, 1875-1946--Correspondence.
- Tapper, Thomas, 1864-1958--Correspondence.
- Woodhouse, George--Correspondence.
- Apel, Willi, 1893-1988--Correspondence.
- Archer, J. Stuart--Correspondence.
- Bailey, Parker--Correspondence.
- Barnes, Edward Shippen, 1887-1958--Correspondence.
- Bauer, Marion, 1882-1955--Correspondence.
- Biggs, Richard Keys, 1886-1962--Correspondence.
- Bird, Arthur, 1856-1923--Correspondence.
- Bispham, David, 1857-1921--Correspondence.
- Bohm, Carl, 1844-1920--Correspondence.
- Bonnet, Joseph, 1884-1944--Correspondence.
- Bornschein, Franz C. (Franz Carl), 1879-1948--Correspondence.
- Borowski, Felix, 1872-1956--Correspondence.
- Brewer, John Hyatt, 1856-1931--Correspondence.
- Britain, Radie, 1903---Correspondence.
- Brown, Rayner, 1912-1999--Correspondence.
- Brüll, Ignaz, 1846-1907--Correspondence.
- Buchanan, Annabel Morris, 1888-1983--Correspondence.
- Cadman, Charles Wakefield, 1881-1946--Correspondence.
- Carl, William C. (William Crane), 1865-1936--Correspondence.
- Casals, Pablo, 1876-1973--Correspondence.
- Chadwick, G. W. (George Whitefield), 1854-1931--Correspondence.
- Coke-Jephcott, Norman--Correspondence.
- Converse, F. S. (Frederick Shepherd), 1871-1940--Correspondence.
- Cowell, Henry, 1897-1965--Correspondence.
- Crist, Bainbridge, 1883-1969--Correspondence.
- Damrosch, Frank, 1859-1937--Correspondence.
- Dennée, Charles, 1863-1946--Correspondence.
- Dett, R. Nathaniel, 1882-1943--Correspondence.
- Diamond, David, 1915-2005--Correspondence.
- Dickinson, Clarence, 1873-1969--Correspondence.
- Downes, Olin, 1886-1955--Correspondence.
- Dupré, Marcel, 1886-1971--Correspondence.
- Eddy, Clarence, 1851-1937--Correspondence.
- Engel, Carl, 1883-1944--Correspondence.
- Farrar, Geraldine, 1882-1967--Correspondence.
- Finck, Henry T., 1854-1926--Correspondence.
- Finney, Ross Lee, 1906-1997--Correspondence.
- Foote, Arthur, 1853-1937--Correspondence.
- Friml, Rudolf, 1879-1972--Correspondence.
- Fry, Henry S., 1875-1946--Correspondence.
- Gabrilowitsch, Ossip, 1878-1936--Correspondence.
- Ganz, Rudolph, 1877-1972--Correspondence.
- Gilchrist, William Wallace, 1846-1916--Correspondence.
- Godowsky, Leopold, 1870-1938--Correspondence.
- Grainger, Percy, 1882-1961--Correspondence.
- Grout, Donald Jay--Correspondence.
- Guilmant, Alexandre, 1837-1911--Correspondence.
- Gurlitt, Cornelius, 1820-1901--Correspondence.
- Hadley, Henry, 1871-1937--Correspondence.
- Hagedorn, Hermann--Correspondence.
- Hale, Philip, 1854-1934--Correspondence.
- Hanson, Howard, 1896-1981--Correspondence.
- Harker, F. Flaxington, 1876-1936--Correspondence.
- Haubiel, Charles, 1892-1978--Correspondence.
- Henschel, George, Sir, 1850-1934--Correspondence.
- Hill, Edward Burlingame, 1872-1960--Correspondence.
- Howard, John Tasker, 1890-1964--Correspondence.
- Howe, Mary, 1882-1964--Correspondence.
- Hughes, Rupert, 1872-1956--Correspondence.
- Huss, Henry Holden, 1862-1953--Correspondence.
- James, Philip, 1890-1975--Correspondence.
- Karg-Elert, Sigfrid, 1877-1933--Correspondence.
- Klein, Bruno Oscar--Correspondence.
- Kroeger, Ernest R. (Ernest Richard), 1862-1934--Correspondence.
- Kubik, Gail, 1914-1984--Correspondence.
- Lemare, Edwin H. (Edwin Henry), 1865-1934--Correspondence.
- Lorenz, Ellen Jane, 1907---Correspondence.
- Luening, Otto, 1900-1996--Correspondence.
- Marzo, Eduardo--Correspondence.
- Mason, Daniel Gregory, 1873-1953--Correspondence.
- Neidlinger, W. H. (William Harold), 1863-1924--Correspondence.
- Nevin, Arthur, 1871-1943--Correspondence.
- O'Hara, Geoffrey, 1882-1967--Correspondence.
- Paine, John Knowles, 1839-1906--Correspondence.
- Parker, Horatio W. (Horatio William), 1863-1919--Correspondence.
- Pinkham, Daniel--Correspondence.
- Price, Florence, 1887-1953--Correspondence.
- Purvis, Richard--Correspondence.
- Reinecke, Carl, 1824-1910--Correspondence.
- Reinhold, Hugo, 1854-1935--Correspondence.
- Rheinberger, Josef, 1839-1901--Correspondence.
- Riegger, Wallingford, 1885-1961--Correspondence.
- Schnabel, Artur, 1882-1951--Correspondence.
- Scholes, Percy A., 1877-1958--Correspondence.
- Schuman, William, 1910-1992--Correspondence.
- Schytte, Ludvig, 1848-1909--Correspondence.
- Shure, R. Deane (Ralph Deane), 1885-1962--Correspondence.
- Skinner, Ernest M.--Correspondence.
- Strong, Templeton, 1856-1948--Correspondence.
- Tosti, F. Paolo (Francesco Paolo), 1846-1916--Correspondence.
- Upton, William Treat, 1870-1961--Correspondence.
- Varèse, Edgard, 1883-1965--Correspondence.
- White, Clarence Cameron, 1880-1960--Correspondence.
- Wilder, Thornton, 1897-1975--Correspondence.
- A.P. Schmidt Company.
- A.P. Schmidt Company--Correspondence.
- Music--Manuscripts.
- Music--Manuscripts--United States.
- Music publishing.
- Music publishing--United States.
- Copyright--Music--United States.
- Music publishers.
- Music publishers--United States.
- Popular music--Writing and publishing.
- Sheet music.
- Music--United States--19th century.
- Music--United States--20th century.
Form/Genre
Browse by shelf order
References
- National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, MS 84-101.
Acquisition source
- Gift; David Sengstack; 1959.
- Letters; Purchase; 1957.
Cite as
- A.P. Schmidt Company Archives, Music Division, Library of Congress.
LCCN
- 2006577426
Geographic area code
- n-us---
Repository
- Library of Congress Music Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA dcu http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/perform.home
Type of material
- Archival Manuscript/Mixed Formats (Collection)
Item Availability
CALL NUMBER
- A.P. Schmidt Company archives
- Refer to finding aid
Request in
- Performing Arts Reading Room (Madison, LM113)
Status
- Not Charged
